My 6th draft H.M.S. NIGERIA

On the 7th December 1943 I was drafted to H.M.S. NIGERIA I served aboard her from the 7/12/1943 until the 23/5/1944 her pennant C60), a Fiji class 6-inch light Cruiser, she was berthed in Chatham dock, being prepared for sea. I was told by one of the existing crew that she had returned from Charleston USA on June 1943, having had repairs done after being torpedoed. The ships compliment was issued with " warm clothing", before sailing North to Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. Cold weather duties were on the cards so it seemed. Scapa was a bleak place to be at anchor. The shore canteen was the only respite from being aboard ship that is if you wished to venture ashore. Then orders came for the Ships Company to hand in its "winter clothing issue" and, in return, received "Tropical issue" in its place. A few days later H.M.S. NIGERIA sailed southwards, heading for the Far East, but exactly where, the Commodore didn't think to tell me, maybe because I was just an able seaman at the time.

When I had first reported aboard the "NIGERIA" I was detailed to be the "Topman's Lockerman". The locker was a 4ft. wide by 10ft Long by 7ft high in which was stored the equipment for the cleaning and maintenance of the Mid-ships section of the Cruiser. We called in at GIBRALTAR Naval Harbour I cannot recall how many nights were spent in Harbour before sailing on through the Mediterranean, but one of the nights, I went ashore to the Naval Canteen. There was a game of tombola taking place were hundreds of ratings taking part and when closing time came I saw a Naval Patrol of 4 men escorting a sailor back to his ship after winning a very big prize on the Tombola.

Our next port of call was Port Said, situated at the entrance to the Suez Canal. We arrived sometime in the early morning and I applied for special shore leave, hoping to contact my elder Brother Bevis. I knew that he was somewhere in this War Zone of North Africa, serving as a R.A.F.Radio-0perator. I went ashore in the afternoon and took the ferry across to the R.A.F. Base in Port Fuad, just opposite to Port Said. It was about 4 PM. and getting dark as I approached the R.A.F. camp gate. The guard on duty challenged me; I stood still and identified myself in the proper manner, I was told to advance and be recognised and give my reason for being there. Once I had been identified, I was escorted to the main gate by the guard. I could tell by his accent that he was a "Geordie" I asked him what part of Northumberland did he originate from being a Northumbrian myself. He told me that his name was Hadden, and that his family lived on a farm at High Pit situated between the villages of Guidepost and Morpeth about 30 miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne. So here I was, talking to the older brother of a Les Hadden,a childhood friend of mine before the war. We arrived at the main gate where I was taken before the Station Officer on duty.
I told him of the search for my brother by the name of Bevis Francis Thomson Dixon. They had no idea of who he was until one of the radio-operators on duty remarked that he knew of a Frank Dixon who was stationed in the desert on a listening station. The Duty Officer then gave his permission to contact the outpost, on connection, "Frank Dixon" was told to come to the radio and was informed that his brother Jack wanted to speak to him. He thought the "micky" was being taken until, the Officer handed the Microphone to me, I spoke to him, and even then he was not quite sure what to say. He became convinced when the Officer give him permission to return to the R.A.F. station at PORT FUAD to meet me.
It took Bevis about 3 hours to hitch hike the 90 miles. Our meeting was emotional as you can imagine, we embraced each other and then went for a meal in a local café and talked, enjoying each others company until the time came to go our separate ways. He said that he would spend the night in the R.A.F. station and I went back to my ship very happy to have met my brother. The next morning we sailed through the Suez Canal, everything was as it should be until I heard my name on the tannoy system ordering me to report to the bridge immediately. On arrival "Jimmy the one", the second in command of ship, told me to look to starboard on to the canal bank. There I saw an open topped army vehicle proceeding along the canal road, with an Aldis Lamp flashing. It was my brother signalling to the ship's Bridge, the message read "Farewell and a safe journey to my brother Jack Dixon, serving as an Able seaman" This meeting that I had with my brother Bevis was reported in the in the Hull Daily Mail. My brother,through the wonders of radio communication and assistance of numerous radio operators from the North African War Zone to some where in the East Riding of Yorkshire, had informed our parents of our meeting. I was to find this out, many months later but as to the date of the Hull Daily Mail I do not know except that it could only have appeared between January the 1st to the 23 rd of May 1944. My father cut the article out of the Hull Mail and gave it to me the next time I was home on leave, I did not see my brother until after the war.

As we were moving through the Suez Canal I had the experience of seeing a number of Dhows (an Arab trading boat) apparently sailing along in the desert on the port side of the vessel. I was actually observing a Mirage, which was a first for me. As we were passing through the "Bitter Lakes ", there was a group of A.T.S. girls sun-bathing on the small beach, which naturally caused the crew to rush to the ship's Starboard side, to ogle and wolf whistle at the girls. Within a few moments an order came over the tannoy to "clear lower decks" which in affect distributed the Ships' company evenly throughout the ship. This order was to put the ship back on an even keel as it was heeling over to starboard caused by the total weight of sailors. Apparently the ship's "blisters" were scraping the bottom of the canal and serious damage could have ensued.

On arrival at the Port of Aden we went along side a quay for a few hours. I cannot recall why but we did to collect some merchant seamen, they were awaiting passage back to Australia; their ship had been torpedoed in the Indian Ocean by a Japanese submarine. They had a terrible story to tell, how they had been machine-gunned while in the water and left for dead. As we sailed through the Red Sea, we had to launched our Paravanes, one Port and one Starboard (a torpedo shaped device towed at a depth regulated by setting the vane controls) used for cutting the mooring wires of submerged mines. A wire hawser which passed through the bullring, situated at the extreme point (Stem) of the Bows, towed each paravane. I was one of the working party, on the Port side, and when the Paravane was dropped into the sea, the drag caused the towing hawser to race through my hands, as the Paravane moved away from the ships side to take up its position. I was wearing a gold ring on my little finger of the left hand; it was my Grandfather's originally. When a broken strand of wire of the hawser pierced the leather glove I was wearing and slipped under the gold ring. If the ring had not snapped, I would have probably lost my little finger or at worst been seriously injured as I was being pulled along the for-castle towards the Bullring. I was very shaken and was told by the Officer in charge to report to the sick bay, fortunately no serious injury occurred, just a bad bruise.

While crossing the Indian Ocean, the Captain had the ships crew take a daily ration of lime juice, it was introduced into the Royal Navy many many years ago for the prevention of scurvy. On another occasion I was on lookout duty in the crow's nest, I reported down to the bridge, via the voice pipe, that "an object" was bearing on the Starboard forequarter just visible on the horizon. The Radar was sweeping 360 degrees as usual, but apparently, had not detected this object. I then became aware of an Officer climbing up the mast rigging. I climbed out of the nest to allow the officer to get in, I had locked the Binoculars on the bearing of the object, and the officer confirmed my sighting down to the bridge a few seconds later. The Officer climbed out of the crow's nest, I resumed my watch, and at the same time, the Cruiser set off at full speed in the direction of the unknown object I had reported. After about 15 minutes steaming, we slowed down to the original cruising speed. When my watch was relieved in the crow's nest I was ordered to report to "Jimmy the one" before leaving the bridge. He informed me that the object I had reported had turned out to be an Australian light Cruiser, he also remarked to me off the record, that I might find myself in the bad books of the radar operators as they had been unable to detect the Cruiser on their radar screen.

It was on a particular payday that "Jimmy the one" was on duty in the hanger, I was standing in line waiting to receive my pay. As I moved away from the Pay Desk he called me aside and asked me if I was a "man of the Cloth"? I replied that I was not, he went on to say that he had been observing me and by my demeanor he had arrived at that conclusion, most mistakenly.

On arrival in Tricomalee, I observed many different types of fighting ships lying at anchor in this natural Harbour. I can only remember the Aircraft Carrier USS SARATOGA; she ended her service in an Atom bomb test in the South Pacific on some remote Atoll after the war. There was also the French Battleship RICHELIEU. She was formidable to behold, besides her normal big guns she bristled with a mixture of anti-aircraft weapons. I was to experience how formidable she was some days later. We were escorting the US Carrier SARATOGA and the RICHELIEU with a number of other escort vessels to a point off the coast of Burma, to bomb-bard the shore installations and at the same time bomb with aircraft from the Carrier SARATOGA. On the way to this position, in the hours of darkness, action stations were "sounded" and almost immediately all the anti-aircraft defenses of the convoy went into action and that's when I saw the RICHELIEU in action. She was steaming, on our starboard side, when she opened fire with all her anti-aircraft guns. This action went on for a few moments and then ceased as abruptly as it had begun, the silence after the tremendous noise of the guns, gave me the experience of being completely deaf. It was very eerie for a few seconds, and then the orders came to "stand down" from Action Stations. It appears that a flock of migrating largebirds, had been caught on Radar and had been mistaken for enemy aircraft, hence the action that ensued. We went on to the coast of Burma and attacked the enemy positions, cruising up and down the coast waiting for the return of Aircraft to the SARATOGA. When they arrived back, we returned to Trincomalee (See end of Biography Re Task Force 69).
The NIGERIA had suffered some damage to one of her propeller blades so we sailed straight round to Colombo. There, we had to wait for a dry dock to become free. I was on guard duty, patrolling the foredeck one morning, When the boom gates on the harbour entrance, opened to allow a submarine to enter. I found out later, the submarine had rescued an American pilot who had ditched in the sea after being unable to land on the deck of the US Carrier the SARATOGA. Another one of my guard duties was to " take away" the gig (a small motor boat). Two men, with a supply of stun Granades, patrolling round the NIGERIA pulling the pins of the grenades and dropping them into the water. The object of this operation was to deter underwater saboteurs.

When I had shore leave for the first time, I took the opportunity to experience a ride in a Rickshaw, from the ship's berth to the centre of Colombo. The "driver" took me to the NAFFI which was a Hotel that had been taken over for the servicemen. It was run by a group of Lady residents of the island, all of them volunteers, their husbands being either in the forces, or running their tea or rubber Plantations etc. On the first occasion, as I was having a meal and enjoying the piano playing of a very talented 14 year old Celanese blind boy when one of the ladies came over to me and started to chat. She started by asking my nationallity and so forth then said that her friend, who was at that moment behind the serving counter, would like to talk to me if I didn't have any objections. I was a little surprised but I said that I did not mind in the least. She called her friend over to my table, she sat down and just stared at me for a while and then very emotionally said that she had, for a brief moment, taken me for her dead son. The first lady, who had approached me, told me at later date, that her friend had been very shocked when she saw me come to the counter where she was serving. After this meeting I was treated as if I was her son. When the time came for me to return to England, to have a second attempt at the Officers' course, I went along to the NAFFI to say my good-byes. "My adopted mother" said that I would be most welcome to come out to live with her husband and her in Ceylon, after the war, no doubt if it had come to pass, I could have had a different life, but it was not to be.

I was drafted ashore to a naval camp which was in the process of being constructed. I was put in charge of a working party of Ceylonese men clearing the undergrowth for the erection of the huts to house naval ratings. I was to await draft instructions for my return to England. In the 9 days that I was in the camp, I took the opportunity to visit the Zoo but I spent most of my time on the beach, near the Mount Lavinia Hotel, which is still functioning as a Hotel to this day. doing a little surfing. This beach, incidentally, was used in a scene for the film "Bridge over the River Kwei" featuring the film star William Holden and the actress Ann Shears.

One evening I visited the Cinema in the centre of COLOMBO, which was an unusual experience. Approximately every half hour there would be an interval and the house lights would come on. Then the roof slid open allowing the night sky to be seen and at the same time have a the cool night air clear the smoke away.